“It was to remember the transmen and transwomen who met a violent end” because they didn't conform to a construct of man and woman, said Padilla, a commercial photographer who self-identifies as a “womyn” and who worked as a staff photographer for the Brownsville Herald when she was Anthony Padilla.

Statistics show that transgendered persons experience more violence and discrimination and have higher rates of suicide than the general population.

In 2011, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality produced “Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey.”

It found that one in four transgendered and gender nonconforming people has experienced physical violence; one in 10 has survived sexual violence; and one in five has experienced violence perpetrated by a spouse.

Four of 10 transgendered and gender nonconforming people have attempted suicide, a rate 20 times higher than the general population, the study found.